Nobody Knows... (p 1119 Question 4)

In her play A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry builds dramatic suspense through slightly unconventional methods. Normally, suspense is developed due to an inconsistency between the audience's knowledge of a situation and a character's knowledge of that situation. Suspense occurs because a character is acting upon knowledge that the audience is not privy to, creating intrigue and curiosity from the members of the audience who seek to find out what that unknown knowledge is. However, in A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry causes the audience to feel suspense for the exact opposite reason.

The suspense in this play resolves around Walter's decision of whether or not to sell their newly purchased house. The audience is held in suspense as they wonder whether Walter will maintain his pride or accept a less fortunate fate. The key to this suspense, however, is that no one else, Walter included, knows which Walter will choose. Indeed, it is not until he mentions his own father and realizes his father's sacrifice that Walter realizes that he "come[s] from people who had a lot of pride" (p 148). Up until that moment, no one knows what Walter will choose, creating an increasingly suspenseful buildup to the plot's climax and denouement.